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I had a bottle of Snapple Ice Tea today, and underneath the lid it said

“real fact” #333

and then it had a random fact about Long Island or something.

Why did they put quotes around “real fact”?

First of all, is there such a thing as a fake fact? Wouldn’t that, in fact, be a lie? Aren’t all facts, therefore, real? Second of all, don’t quotes mean that either they’re quoting someone (is my bottle cap speaking?) or that the thing in quotes is, let’s say, more metaphorical than literal (such as saying that the birds and the bees “make whoopie”)? So is my real fact, in fact, not real, and not a fact? Do both negatives make a positive and thus make it an actual fact? What’s going on?

Perhaps Snapple is just trying to evolve the English Language to include some new revolutionary use for redundancy and quotes when used together.

I think it has less to do with Snapple trying to force the evolution the English Language than desperately using anything that might convince the drinkers of Snapple that it’s all “natural”, however tenuous the link may be between “real” facts and “natural” Snapple.*
*This semi-intelligible sentence brought to you by a head cold and the number 12.

You should see how much I think about Bank Of America’s slogan: “Higher Standards”
Higher than what? Or whom? Higher than the ones you had last week, or are they stagnant? Do you meet these standards, or just have them? etc.